


Missing You Already

by Pastel_Teacups



Category: In the Flesh (TV)
Genre: Funerals, M/M, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-27
Updated: 2015-01-27
Packaged: 2018-03-09 06:01:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3238970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pastel_Teacups/pseuds/Pastel_Teacups
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kieren goes to Rick's funeral.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Missing You Already

Rick was gone. 

Rick was gone, and Kieren couldn’t remember how to live. 

He could distinctly remember the day he found out, the way his parents sat him down and Jem hugged him close before Kieren had even heard the news. 

He could also remember after hearing it, the way his heart fell through to his stomach and Jem squeezed him tightly in some vain means of comforting him. He could remember it, and it made his stomach churn. 

\----

The funeral, Kieren eventually learned, would be on a Sunday. But on Saturday when his mom knocked gently on his door to ask him if his suit still fit, he shook his head. 

“I’m not going.” He’d told her tiredly, voice hoarse with tears. His eyes were rimmed with red, and his mother frowned at him. 

“What?” She asked, putting her hands on her hips in common motherly fashion. “Why not?” 

Kieren tugged his duvet further over himself, shrugging against his pillows. “They don’t want me there. You know that. Bill Macy-” 

“This isn’t about Bill Macy or his radical beliefs.” She said firmly, reaching over and yanking Kieren’s blankets off of him. “This is about Rick and all he’s done for us. For you.” 

Kieren reached up for his blankets, but she only held them farther away. “No. You’re getting out of bed and taking a shower. You look terrible.” 

\----

A day later Kieren put on his nice suit, the one kept for incidents just like these, and stared at the wall in front of him until his mother told him that it was time to leave.

It didn’t rain, but the sun was hidden behind a dark cloud. Typical funeral weather, in Kieren’s mind. 

The grave was little comfort. They all knew that Rick was scattered about somewhere in Afghanistan, not trapped in a box. 

Kieren found it fitting. Rick had always been the adventurous sort. 

He took a sketch he’d done of Rick, and dropped it into the dark void that would hold his last memory forever. 

Bill Macy glared at him as he did so. Kieren couldn’t find it in him to care. 

After it’d ended people wandered off, among them Kieren’s family. They’d left him alone without asking, and he was quietly grateful for the silence. 

But he wasn’t alone. 

And when harsh hands turned him around, he came face to face with Bill Macy. 

Who promptly punched him in the face. 

Kieren hit the ground heavily, reaching up a hand to press against his throbbing cheek. 

A foot connected with Kieren’s chest, and breathing was nearly impossible. 

“It’s your fault.” His harsh voice cut through the cold air like a knife. “That he’s gone. You drove him away.” 

Kieren couldn’t reply, trying to find his breath within the tattered pieces of his chest. 

“I didn’t drive him away,” he gasped desperately once he could manage to string words together, trying to pull himself to his feet. “You did. With all your-” 

Bill Macy kicked him again, this time in his stomach. His boots must have been made of steel. 

“I told you stay away. For everyone’s sake. Not look what you’ve done.” 

He walked away on heavy feet, leaving Kieren to catch his breath mere steps away from Rick’s gravestone.

 _Nice send off, eh, Rick?_

Kieren wanted to scream.


End file.
